The Sorcerer's Apprentice Wiki:Rules
As a community, we at The Sorcerer's APprentice Wiki value our contributors and have managed to build a sizable following, however as with all communities there are a small minority of contributors who either do not wish to play nice or are having difficulty understanding what this Wiki is all about. These rules will serve to try and help contributors who are confused or needing a little help while also discouraging contributions that are not in the spirit of this Wiki: General Rules #'Chain of Command': Although we are a friendly community we have a "chain of command" with the admins making rules, enforcing rules and keeping order: users contribute and have fun but need to remember admins are not democratic, neither are they tyrants - Admins should be approachable and not completely insane with power but at the same time users must treat admins with the respect you give any authority or expect punishment. It's much like the real-world, you can not walk up to an authority figure and force them to do as you say, empty threats and outright stupidity will only serve to alienate you from the community as a whole - This system may not suit everyone but much like any community we need to acknowledge the fact that contributing is a privilege, not a right and like all privileges it can (and should) be removed if abused. #'Plagiarism': Whenever possible only post original content - copying directly from other wikis or online sources is plagiarism and is frowned upon by the community as it gives a bad name not only to yourself but to us and can cause copyright dilemmas. Just because something is on the Internet does not mean its right (or even legal; plagiarism is a type of theft and stealing is not alright anywhere) to claim it as your own - Articles that are obviously taken from other wikis or sites will be deleted on sight as a matter of principle. #'Language & Offensive Content': Contributors should be aware that this wiki is PG-13 at best, we do not allow excessive profanity or offensive language - We are a community of mixed age groups and some profanity/offensive terms will crop up but users should not make a habit of using them. It is never acceptable to use extremely offensive language however and users who do so will face punishment. As a general rule the same applies to articles, do not litter articles with offensive language - even articles listed as mature. This may be hard when dealing with extremely controversial media (such as exploitation films or some of the Japan-exclusive manga/anime) but with such things common-sense needs to come into play: Do not go into detail about the gruesome aspects of the character and do not quote their most offensive lines. Try to make the article as "clean" as possible - that way it never come across as being what is known as a "shocker". #'Grammar': In the same way, remember that articles are meant to be read by people so try making them clear, concise and readable. Few people will frown upon one typing error or two but having hardly readable messes instead of articles is not very enjoyable for anyone. The same thing goes for non-English edits; if possible these types of edits will be translated, but viewers should be aware this is an English-speaking Wikia. There are foreign language wikias elsewhere, including ones of The Sorcerer's Apprentice Wiki. Behavior #'Trolls': We have a zero-tolerance when it comes to trolls, whether it be for humor or for harassment - there are plenty of troll sites for that sort of behavior - this is a wiki about villainous objects/places/events, not a chan site. #'Vandalism': Vandals will be banned on sight - much like trolls, we do not really need to explain why. Vandalism is just that. #'Do not feed the Trolls': If you see a troll/vandal, just report him to an admin and leave him be; never engage in flamewars with him, you will be only fueling his desire to cause problems and make it harder for the admins to undo the damage. #'Harassment/Cyberbullying': Any user who harasses or bullies another will be liable to punishment by admins as they see fit - If your foolish enough to pick a fight with an admin you'll likely be banned. We are a good-natured wiki but nobody likes a bully, and we are no exception. #'Edit-wars': Any users who engage in editwars will receive a warning and a possible ban, and the article will be locked. Any user can call an admin if another user is undoing his edits for no reason. #'Category Spam': Adding categories for the sake of it is counter-productive and considered a charge. When adding categories, users must add them all in one edit. Users who add one category per edit can get in trouble, especially when they do nothing else to contribute to the wiki and add many categories one by one. #'Edit Spam': Editing only for the sake of it is but counter-productive and considered a charge, no different from category-spamming. When editing, users must add them all in once or a few times. Users who have condone too much of this as in more than 3 or 5 times per edit in a short period of time can seriously get in trouble, especially when they do nothing else to contribute to the wiki and add many writing (especially in poor manners such as writing gibberish or edit-warring) one by one. #'Ban Evasion': Got yourself banned? Chances are you deserved it so either wait for your ban to expire or, if you truly believe your ban was undeserved or too severe, contact an admin. Creating accounts to evade your ban will only result in all of your accounts to be permanently blocked. #'Requesting': It is both annoying and insulting when a user shows up only to say things like "Why nobody made 'X' page yet?" or "Please make a page for 'X'", so please do not go harassing other users asking them to do things for you. If you think there should be a page for a particular character, by all means go ahead and make it. Content #'Only add official information': Any media have more than enough information that you may need for creating an article. Do not make stuff up and especially do not add things that have nothing to do with the object in question. Fan-theories and mass guessing can go into a separate trivia section. #'No articles on upcoming media/leaked info': Do not create any article on villains from upcoming media, be it movies, games or anything else. Not only this could figure huge spoilers, we would never be able to determine the veracity of the information on such pages which could be nothing more than speculation. As a general rule, you should wait a few days, at least a week since release before creating an article. #'No "One-line" articles': There is just no excuse for laziness. Articles with little to no content (only a single paragraph or just a picture without any text) will be deleted if not expanded. If a user only makes articles like this he/she will be warned. An article must at the very least have a introduction line and a complete paragraph resuming the object. Simply adding a Stub or Construction template on the page will not prevent it from being marked as a One-Line Article, by the way. Also do not remove the One-Line Article warning without actually expanding the page. #'No Fan-Creations': This wiki is for legitimate charaters objects/places/events from every existing media, however for sake of variety we will accept villains from original web content that is NOT OF YOUR OWN CREATION. Fanfiction subjects will only be accepted if they are well-known across the Internet (for example: having a confirmed entry on http://knowyourmeme.com/) and be an ACTUAL CHARACTER - we will not be accepting those that are "demonized" which only exist as random image macros around the internet, basically anything that does not have a story/plot attached to it and enough to differ it from other works that it can pass most parody laws (YouTube videos, Fan-games and Creepypasta ARE NOT exempt to these rules, just so you know). If you have questions about a particular character, CONTACT AN ADMINISTRATOR. #'No Real-Life Events/Places/Objects/Characters': Our wiki now exclusively focuses on fictional subjects. For any items that lived or still lives, go to "Real-Life Villains Wiki". Articles found about real-life things or real-life characters are likely to get deleted on sight. ##'No Fetish Stuff': That being said, fetish stuff, especially the ones from webcomics/videos/etc, are strictly forbidden, period. #'Do not recreate Deleted Articles/Categories': As a general rule when an admin deletes an article or category it cannot be recreated without admin approval. However if you can provide a valid reason to do so you may proceed - users who recreate deleted articles/categories without a valid reason however risk punishment. #'No Span Tags, No Nowiki, and no Null/Empty Tags': A general rule that prohibits Span tags and Nowiki tags (which interferes with any article's data and loading, causes terrible slowness when zooming and moving the page, are a possible and visible sign of plagiarism in Source Mode, and they are generic containers which have no special meaning at all) and Null/Empty tags (which are empty tags, interferes with any article's data and loading, causes terrible slowness when zooming and moving the page and generic containers which have no special meaning at all). Links, Pictures and Miscellaneous Items #'General rules': We allow users to post links, funny pictures and "fun" items but within reason - Do not provide links to pornographic sites (rule 34 counts, just so you know) and do not upload pictures that are overly offensive. "Fun" items should only be posted into userpages or talkpages - Do not add them to main articles unless you have a good reason to do so. #'Gallery size, position & color': It is never necessary to left the colors of the subs as grey since the background is already dark and it is difficult to read what the subtitles/captions. Also, it is better to leave the gallery's position in the middle instead of right and left because it can interrupt in the editing of other users. The letters of the page might get inside of the gallery code and corrupt its codex, breaking the template. But if the gallery is kept on the middle, it will never happen as the letters and the template are separate in a proper space. Same thing with the videos and their position too. It is better to leave them in the middle like the gallery for the same reason. If there is a section saying: Videos and you put the video to the left said, this page will get a bad design (it is not like this is important). And last, if the images within a gallery are too small, it is better to leave on the max size (such as 300px). #'Do not add too many pictures': Not only this is not a photo-sharing site, most users who visit here do not have super fast connections. Twenty (20) pictures is more than enough for any article, there is no need to put hundreds of pictures. Also, keep in mind that pictures are meant to illustrate the article and provide an image of what is described. Voiding the page of pictures and putting a overly long gallery will only make your article hard to read. #'20 pictures minimum': Gallery subpages are meant to group hundreds of pictures, twenty at the very least. Only create a new gallery if you can fill it with a minimum of 20 images. New gallery pages that do not fit this criteria will be marked for deletion. #'Do not add too many videos': Much like the above. Five (5) videos is a good enough limit. #'No Fan-art allowed': Only add official art on articles (screenshots, concept art, promotional art, etc). This wiki is not DeviantART, and posting fan-art made by others is copyright infringement. Special cases can be taken into consideration (a render of an organization's symbol, or if you just cannot find a decent official picture by any means). #'WATCH FOR THE FILE'S NAME': It is a big hassle when someone uploads a picture and overwrites a previous one which is being used in another article, so PLEASE rename your files before uploading them if a file with the same name already exists. #'Do not add more than only 1 gallery in About Villains pages': Not only this is not a photo-sharing site, most users who visit here do not have super fast connections. Plus it only encourages spamming for any About Villains article in this wiki which is unacceptable, there is no need to put hundreds of pictures. #'Type Of': Always use a short and concise description on the Infobox template's "Type Of" section. Using a category name or a trope name is possible, but clogging it with categories is not only redundant but flooding. Category list belongs in the category list. Categories #'Check Categories Beforehand': We have many categories on this wiki, so DO NOT add a page to a category that does not correspond or has been deleted. Finally DO NOT add categories that are already on the list. Do check the category page and then the article's list before doing anything. #'20 pages minimum': Categories are meant to group hundreds of pages, twenty (20) at the very least. Only create a new category if you can fill it with a minimum of 20 pages. New categories that do not fit this criteria will be marked for deletion. #'No categories on crossovers': Crossovers are just an amalgamation of existing objects/places/events, we will only allow such categories if they have at least 20 original characters to it. #'Use good sense': Do not simply create any category you want. We do not allow categories on physical appearance, sexual orientation, stereotypes (be they positive or negative) or any other trait that have nothing to do with this site or contenta. When in doubt ask an admin first. Also, categories are meant to be broad, do not make sub-categories for every detail or facts that are best described in the article in itself.